#erqing

Fuheng’s gorgeous and unhappy wedding

One of the most satisfying things to come out of the Yanxi Palace: Princess Adventures was the exposure of Erqing’s misdeeds and the subsequent downfall of her lover / partner in crime.

There were a lot of vagueness surrounding Erqing and Fuk’anggan in the original show. Naturally so, she was not the main character and was killed off rather unsatisfactorily midway through the series. Erqing claimed that she slept with the Emperor, and that he ‘took advantage of her’, which to be honest, while he could have, he was also really drunk that night. That particular night, Erqing herself dressed up as a maid and purposely sneaked in under the guise of serving the emperor. She did so primarily to punish the Empress and Fuheng as she blamed Rongyin for ‘never helping her’ and doting on Yingluo more than her and Fuheng for being in love with YingLuo. She could not have Fuheng’s heart or person and became mad with ideas of punishing and taking revenge against them all. While we would never know whether she was forced into it / if she seduced the emperor or if they even really did have relations or otherwise, we know that Fuk’anggan was a product of Erqing’s tryst with her brother in law, Fuheng’s half brother.

I am pretty sure that during their marriage, Fuheng never touched Erqing because he knew of her schemes and hated her very existence. Therefore he knew that the son she had was not his. But the fact that he continued to cover up for her and raised Fuk’anggan like his own deserves a mention. Fuheng is a genuinely good person and it was a pity (but understandable) that he died because he was, yet again, helping Yingluo out of love.

Period Drama Costume Appreciation - 延禧攻略 The Story of Yanxi Palace